One of the largest social media platforms, Pinterest can be one of the most effective marketing tools for your small business! If you haven’t already ventured there, Pinterest is a social network that allows you to create virtual “boards” where you can “pin” images and other visual content that inspires you. The topics for these boards are limitless. You can find anything from recipes to fun do-it-yourself projects. You’re probably wondering, how this can help your business grow?

While Pinterest does lean heavily to crafts and home projects, many “pinners” use the site for saving ideas on how to network or blog, articles they want to read, or products or services they are interested in. With beautiful pictures and easy backlinks, Pinterest is an easy way to save pictures, articles, and even full websites. If a great picture of your product gets pinned by someone, there is pretty good chance that their pin will lead to another pin and so on and so forth. This is great because once anyone clicks on that pin, they will be lead straight to your website!Here are some easy steps to take if you decide to use Pinterest for your business. .

Step 1: Set Up an Account

Visit the Pinterest home page at pinterest.com

Click on “Sign up with Email” or “Sign up with Facebook”

Type your profile information into the given spaces.

Click on “Sign Up”

Explore the pull down menu under your name and get acquainted with the settings section. This is where you can edit your privacy settings and customize your account or connect to other existing social media.

Step 2: Get Creative but be Respectful

While you may feel tempted to jump right into the marketing aspect of Pinterest, the best way to gain a good following is by simply becoming a fellow “pinner.” To do this, think about all the different things that pertain to your business. You can, of course, have a board dedicated to your own business but it’s essential to think bigger than just that. Having a board of cool activities to do in your city or even of marketing pins related to your industry would help you gain a Pinterest following of people interested in the same content.

Step 3: Make your Website Pin-Friendly

To promote your website through Pinterest, download Pinterest buttons from the goodies page and add them to photos on your website.

Step 4: Gain Followers:

According to Karen Leland, author of “Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business,” they key is to reciprocate. Find other pinners who are pinning beautiful, interesting or highly informative content and follow them. This will give you the chance to create a home page that is filled with great pins that you can like and repin. As you start following more people, you will in turn gain more followers and it will be their “re-pins” of your content that will help you in successfully using Pinterest for your business!